For the first time since controversial political cartoon posters were hung on walls in a hallway of Boyet Junior High in Slidell nearly seven months ago, the teacher who assigned the project presented his side of the story via his attorneys Wednesday. Robert Duncan, 55, of Bogalusa, sat quietly throughout a day-long public hearing at the Robert C. Brooks Educational Complex in Slidell, as attorney Larry Abbott tried to make a case of wrongful termination of his client.

View full sizeScott Threlkeld, The Times-PicayuneFormer Boyet Junior High teacher Robert Duncan, right, and his wife, Joanne Duncan, return from lunch to a public hearing Wednesday at the Robert C. Brooks Educational Complex in Slidell. Duncan was fired after violent and racially charged political cartoons drawn by his students were posted in a hallway of the school, drawing outrage from some parents.

Duncan was fired Aug. 6 by St. Tammany Parish Public Schools Superintendent Trey Folse after serving six months of administrative leave, in part, for posting "violent" depictions in hallways outside his classroom in late January. One of the depictions was a picture of President Barack Obama, in which some interpreted a bullet hole drawn on his head.

Through his attorneys, Duncan, a teacher at Boyet since 1999, claims when he posted the picture, there was no such mark. He also said political cartoons are part of an overall curriculum in St. Tammany Parish and are used by other teachers at the school.

During testimony, Folse said no other teacher has posted drawings of a violent nature, and that Duncan was fired for being dishonest and "making a bad, incompetent" decision.

WDSUArtwork from students at Boyet Junior High School in Slidell.

Abbott challenged Folse that the cartoons were allowed to hang for a week before anyone found them offensive, including Principal Mitchell Stubbs, who testified he was aware of them for at least two days before they were removed. The attorney said they didn't become an issue until a Boyet parent, Karen Stampley, entered the school illegally, took pictures with her cell phone and distributed them to the media.

The hearing was ongoing late Wednesday afternoon, and was expected to continue Thursday.